Handbook on Accession to the WTO
WTO.org, June, 2008

The WTO Agreement, which came into force on 1 January 1995, provides few details on how this process takes place. The steps in the detailed negotiations leading up to accession have evolved over the years through the actual process that governments have followed to become members of the WTO. This handbook provides a unique account of how the process has evolved and details exactly what is involved.<<More>>

Lamy urges “maximum effort” for July meeting of ministers
EGov monitor, June 30, 2008

Over the last weeks, important work has been taking place in Agriculture and NAMA, and I believe we are getting closer to the point when the respective Chairs will be in a position to circulate comprehensive revised modality texts. To enable that to happen, we need to intensify our efforts even further in various configurations, in particular at the level of the Negotiating Groups, where I hope serious engagement can take place. I would also urge Senior Officials to be in town as from next Monday to provide the Chairs with the convergence they need to be able to prepare revised texts.<<More>>

WTO mini-ministerial meeting a risky one
The Star Online, June 30, 2008

Last week’s announcement that a small ministerial meeting is being planned to start on July 21 has received mixed reactions as many are worried of a failure if the existing differences on many issues are not settled. A meeting of selected trade ministers will be held on July 21 at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a risky attempt to get the WTO to finalise the main elements or “modalities” of issues in the Doha Round. <<More>>

African FMs urge WTO rich members to show flexibility in trade talks
Xinhuanet, June 29, 2008

African foreign ministers urged here on Saturday rich members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to show flexibility during the ongoing Doha Round trade negotiations. Calling for ending the Doha Round talks without undermining Africa's development process, the African foreign ministers expressed full commitment to reaching a just and balanced world trade system based on multilateral trade.<<More>>

France calls special EU meeting on WTO deal
AFP.com, June 28, 2008

France said it will hold a special meeting of European ministers to discuss the EU position on global commerce as the World Trade Organization seeks to conclude a long-deadlocked deal. "France will organise between 14 and 20 July an extraordinary meeting of European ministers of foreign affairs... to quickly deal with European positions regarding the WTO," said Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet. "Europe cannot sit back and do nothing about the WTO, which was a major cause of trouble in Ireland, with agriculture, as it is France," he told French radio.<<More>>

Lamy urges “maximum effort” for July meeting of ministers
WTO News, June 27, 2008

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, at an informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee on 27 June 2008, urged "maximum effort from everyone over the next weeks" to ensure a productive meeting of a number of ministers scheduled for the week of 21 July 2008. He said the immediate challenge is to make progress that "will provide a basis for improved texts in Agriculture and NAMA".<<More>>

G33 statement at 27 June TNC
Trade observatory, June 26, 2008

Neither the Agriculture, nor the NAMA draft texts are stabilized. Severe imbalances remained within the pillars and between the 3 (three) pillars in agriculture. This would include among the Agriculture and NAMA as well as between the huge flexibilities for developed countries and those for developing countries in these areas. The G-33 has always been supportive of transparency, inclusiveness and the bottom up approach in the negotiations. We view that the process of engaging all members is the most favorable approach to ensuring a truly multilateral result.<<More>>

Businesses seek 'commercially meaningful' WTO deal
Reuters, June 26, 2008

The global trade treaty shaping up in Geneva needs to include "commercially meaningful" tariff cuts to be palatable to major businesses, who warned against diluting a deal in the push to wrap it up next month. In a rare joint statement, companies from United States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand said they would only support a long-sought Doha round accord if it prises open new export markets for their goods. "Reaching an ambitious conclusion to the round remains the number one global priority for business," the industry groups representing Procter & Gamble (PG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Unilever (UNc.AS: Quote, Profile, Research), BASF (BASF.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and others said.<<More>>

UPA allies for tough stand at WTO
The Statesman, June 26, 2008

A day after the Left-UPA talks on the Indo-US nuclear deal reached a point of no return, the constituents of the ruling dispensation have counseled the government to harden its stance at WTO negotiations and oppose “self-serving” arguments of the USA. “It’s not that the government had softened its stand anytime. But now, it’s action time,” said an official alluding to the impasse in UPA regime’s relations with the Left parties. <<More>>

India wants WTO subsidy row resolved
Business Standard, June 26, 2008

India yesterday told World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy that New Delhi would not remain silent if issues such as disclosure of provisions for genetic material, fishery subsidies and services were not resolved satisfactorily. India's trade envoy, Ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia, challenged the director-general to clarify the process and substantive issues, cautioning that within agriculture and Nama there are umpteen unresolved issues such as the number and treatment of special products, the thresholds for special safeguard mechanism, and overall trade-distorting domestic support. <<More>>

WTO deal is within reach, Brown insists
Guardian.co.uk, June 26, 2008

Gordon Brown warned yesterday that almost seven years of acrimonious trade talks had reached a critical point, as ministers from up to 40 countries were summoned to Geneva for a make-or  break meeting next month to end the impasse. He said: "I believe that this is the endgame for the trade talks and that there is a real chance of concluding them. "We are within touching distance and a deal is there to be done, but this is one minute to midnight for Doha." Brown's comments came after Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organisation, set a deadline of the end of July for a breakthrough in the two toughest areas under negotiation: agriculture and industrial goods. Talks will begin on July 21 and are expected to last a week.<<More>>

The 2008 Farm Bill and the Doha Agenda
IATP.org, June 25, 2008

The U.S has gone to some trouble to show other WTO members that it is ready to complete the Doha Round by changing U.S. farm policy if necessary. Yet the negotiations over the 2008 Farm Bill showed that the Bush Administration does not have the political support to change the basic pillars of the 2002 farm legislation.<<More>>

Members turn attention to improving SPS mediation
WTO News, June 25, 2008

The WTO committee dealing with food safety and animal and plant health has started work aimed at encouraging members to make use of mediation by the chairperson to resolve some of their differences. Their efforts are focusing on drafting procedures for mediation, which some see as a sort of user's guide.<<More>>

WTO calls July meeting on trade round
International Herald Tribune, June 25, 2008

Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organization, has called a week-long meeting of ministers next month aimed at reaching a breakthrough deal on liberalizing global trade, officials and diplomats said Wednesday. The upcoming meeting is scheduled to be held over five days at WTO headquarters in Geneva starting July 21, with the goal of agreeing to specific tariff and subsidy cuts. Up to 40 countries are expected to attend. Sean Spicer, the assistant U.S. trade representative, warned that important differences still remained between trading partners on the crucial areas of agriculture industrial goods and services, the areas on which the talks would focus. But Spicer still said there was "an opportunity for success" over the coming weeks if other countries "work with the same spirit" and "make the same intensive efforts" as the United States.<<More>>

WTO to make new push on Doha talks
Reuters, June 25, 2008

Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, called Wednesday for a select group of ministers to meet on July 21 to push the Doha round of global free trade talks toward conclusion, diplomats said. "It will be the 21st," the Mexican ambassador to the WTO, Fernando de Mateoy Venturini, told journalists after a briefing by Lamy to ambassadors at the organization's headquarters in Geneva. The proposed meeting would include about 30 ministers representing a range of interests in the fractious negotiations about opening up agriculture, industry and services markets, which Lamy is aiming to wrap up in 2008. "I think it is perfectly imaginable that this deal can be done, but a lot of hard work needs to be done first," said the European Union's top civil servant for trade, David O'Sullivan.<<More>>

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